Trivia
Jump to:
Spoilers (2)
Robert Rodriguez was originally thought to be attached as director, however within days of this rumor coming out he confirmed he would only write and produce the film.
Share this
Neil Marshall, Michael J. Bassett, Bill Duke, Marcus Nispel, Peter Berg and Darren Lynn Bousman were considered to direct the film. In the end, Nimród Antal was hired because Robert Rodriguez enjoyed Antal's earlier films Kontroll and Vacancy.
Share this
The film's basic plot was conceived in 1994, when Robert Rodriguez was working on Desperado. He presented a draft of the script to 20th Century Fox, but they turned it down because the budget required was too large. 15 years later, the studio decided to follow through with his script; in the end, an updated version of his script.
Share this
The original script contained cameo appearances by Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Michael Harrigan (Danny Glover), the protagonists of the previous Predator films. However, these appearances were ultimately cut out.
Share this
Danny Trejo's character is named Cuchillo. "Cuchillo" is Spanish for "knife". Many of Trejo's characters in Robert Rodriguez movies have been named after knives or sharp instruments: Machete in Spy Kids, Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams, and Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over; Razor Charlie and Razor Eddie in From Dusk Till Dawn, From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money, and From Dusk Till Dawn 3: The Hangman's Daughter, Navajas (Spanish for "blades") in Desperado, and he also plays another character called Machete in Machete, a feature length version based on a fake trailer featured in the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino collaboration Grindhouse.
Share this
Nimród Antal specifically chose Adrien Brody for the main protagonist: "It was a challenge in finding a balance. When we cast Adrien, there were a lot of people going, What? But at the same time, if we cast a Vin Diesel in that role or anyone who is Arnold-esque, we would have been attacked for doing that. So we decided early on to go in a very different direction as far as the casting process, but it turned out fantastic." He also felt the soldiers should be portrayed as wiry tough guys, not burly men like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Share this
Alice Braga (who plays an Israeli soldier) is the third brunette actress who appears in the "Predator" series, following Elpidia Carrillo in Predator and Maria Conchita Alonso in Predator 2, while Sanaa Lathan played the female leader in AVP: Alien vs. Predator following Sigourney Weaver who played the female leader role in "Alien" series.
Share this
Robert Rodriguez intended this film to be part of the "Predator" series and NOT the "Alien vs. Predator" series.
Share this
According to Robert Rodriguez, the title of "Predators" serves as a double-entendre, describing the alien hunters as well as the ensemble human characters they target: "They could very well kill each other off even if there were no Predators!"
Share this
Louis Ozawa Changchien insisted his character Hanzo fight using Kendo as he is a practitioner of the martial art, instead of using Kung Fu as most Hollywood films do.
Share this
It was decided that the film would be produced at Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios instead of 20th Century Fox so that Rodriguez would have creative control over the project.
Share this
The average height of the actors who play the Predators in this film is 6'6½", while the actors in the previous films, Kevin Peter Hall and Ian Whyte, were 7'2½" and 7'1" tall, respectively.
Share this
When asked where he drew his inspiration for how to make a "Predator" film, Robert Rodriguez responded he was inspired what to do from the original Predator, and what not to do by Predator 2, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, and Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. Furthermore, he added he drew no inspiration whatsoever from the "Predator" comics.
Share this
The classic Predator from the original Predator is seen for the first time in over 20 years.
Share this
Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for the original film Predator, was asked to write this score to this film. He could not due to scheduling conflicts with The A-Team. John Debney, with whom Robert Rodriguez had worked previously on Sin City and The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D received the assignment. Debney was quoted as saying that his score will be influenced by Silvestri's original score for the 1987 film.
Share this
Nikolai was originally supposed to be armed with a Russian GShG-7.62 four-barreled rotary machinegun, as it would be more fitting for a Russian spetsnaz operator. The production crew was unable to obtain one, so they used an American M134 minigun instead.
Share this
The unusual weapon used by Royce is an AA-12 fully automatic 12 gauge shotgun. Judging by the explosive effects produces by the shells, it is most likely loaded with Frag-12 explosive rounds.
Share this
Isabelle uses a Blaser R93 sniper rifle fitted with an Elcan DigitalHunter scope. The official sniper rifle for active-duty Israeli Defense Forces personnel is actually the H-S Precision HTR, and it achieved that designation in May 2010, only a month before this movie was released.
Share this
Hanzo's name is a reference to Hattori Hanzo, a legendary Japanese samurai of the Sengoku era (1467-1573 AD). Hattori Hanzo is also the name of Sonny Chiba's character in Kill Bill: Vol. 1, which was written and directed by Robert Rodriguez's good friend Quentin Tarantino.
Share this
The man whose parachute fails to open is wearing pixel-gray Army Combat Uniform fatigues, meaning he was most likely a soldier in the United States Army.
Share this
The writing on the back of Stans' prison jumpsuit identifies him as an inmate of California's San Quentin State Prison. San Quentin has the largest prison death row population in the United States.
Share this
The alien creature that pursues Edwin (Topher Grace) through the jungle during the ambush scene is a slightly modified version of the original, abandoned Predator design from 1987.
Share this
The song that plays over the credits is Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" and is a direct reference to the first Predator while the group of soldiers are traveling in a helicopter.
Share this
Stans' character is a death row inmate in California's San Quentin Correctional Facility. All death row inmates can receive a pardon or stay of execution by the state's governor. At the time this film was made (and presumably the time the movie takes place), California's governor was Arnold Schwarzenegger, the lead star of the original Predator film.
Share this
Royce, Isabelle, Nikolai and Noland are the only people to say their names in the film. Stans, Mombasa, Cuchillo, Edwin and Hanzo's names are never revealed.
Share this
The plant that Edwin (Topher Grace) identifies as "Archaefructus liaoningensis" has actually been extinct for several million years; its origin lies in the Cretaceous Period. Angiosperm fossils were found in China that are believed to be about 125 million years old, making it the world's earliest known flowering plant. In an earlier draft of the script, Edwin highlights the plant's origins, citing it as yet another inexplicable oddity before they finally realize where they are.
Share this
According to Nimród Antal and Robert Rodriguez on the commentary, in the script, the character Cuchillo was described as "a guy who looks like Danny Trejo." When Danny Trejo heard this, he called Robert Rodriguez and said, "hey, I heard there's a guy in the script for 'Predators' who looks just like Danny Trejo and guess what, I look just like Danny Trejo!"
Share this
Even though this installment in the "Predator" franchise explicitly wanted to part with the crossover AvP story arc, it does contain at least three nods to the "Alien" franchise: - 1) at one point, while (obviously, given the movie's universe) facing near-certain death, one character tells another "If the time comes, I'll do us both", a reference to Hicks' almost identical line in Aliens, 2) when the group finds the body of an earlier victim of the antagonists, he has a large hole in his chest with the ribs bent outwards, referencing the way xenomorph young emerge from their host and the wound found on the "space jockey" in Alien, 3) as soon as Royce recovers from his parachute landing; as he looks around a music motif from Aliens can be heard and when the group enters the Predators camp there's a brief view of an Alien skull on the ground.
Share this
According to Robert Rodriguez on the DVD commentary, Walton Goggins had been cast in the role of Stans, but Rodriguez felt the character was written far too much like the character Hudson in Aliens. So Rodriguez had the part re-written and asked director Nimród Antal to re-cast the role. But Antal insisted that Goggins could still do the role and scheduled a meeting between Goggins, Rodriguez and himself. Within a very short period of time, Rodriguez was convinced that Walton was still right for the part.
Share this
According to director Nimród Antal, the lower jaw attached to the mask of the Berzerker Predator is that of an alien from the Alien movie series.
Share this
Alice Braga read a sniper manual in preparation for her role and carried a fourteen pound sniper rifle around with her during shooting.
Share this
While filming a fight scene, Oleg Taktarov hit his face on a Steadicam camera and started bleeding. He insisted that filming continued to add effect to the scene.
Share this
Although all the main locations were filmed in Hawaii, 60% of the movie was shot in Texas in order to be eligible for a tax benefit.
Share this
The original plan was to alter the 20th Century Fox logo, turning it into heat vision (as seen from the Predators' viewpoint) halfway through the fanfare. The studio nixed that particular idea.
Share this
Robert Rodriguez and Nimród Antal referred to the original Predator as the "cassette tape version" and the new 2010 film as the "iPod version".
Share this
This had the same budget as the previous entry in the franchise, Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.
Share this
One of the mandates for the production team was that they only looked to the original Predator for reference points.
Share this
Hanzo is missing two fingers on his left hand. The reason that the Yakuza traditionally cut their fingers starting from the left pinkie is that these fingers have a vital role in controlling a Japanese sword, and their loss would significantly impair a duelist. Hanzo must be a formidable swordsman to be able fight in close combat as he did despite the loss of his fingers.
Share this
